Over the past couple of years, I have had several posts here expressing skepticism about whether electric vehicles (EVs) were really the wave of the future. Most recently, I had a post on December 17 noting the rapid decline of EV sales in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, following the expiration of certain tax credits on September 30. Overall, my take has been that the EV market has been propped up by government subsidies and benefits and, like all businesses dependent on government handouts, would likely shrink drastically (if not completely disappear) without them.
For a different take, you might wonder where The New York Times stands on this. Well, I have your answer. Yesterday, they gave over a big chunk of their editorial page to an op-ed by a guy named Bill Saporito, headlined “$25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit.” The thesis is that EVs are wondrous products, and that American EVs would be conquering the world, and earning big profits for the automakers, but for a “war” against EVs instigated by President Trump.
Bill Saporito, if you haven’t heard of him, is a business journalist who has really been around the block in mainstream publications, mostly under the umbrella of the former Time, Inc. He has been a big-time writer and/or editor at outlets like Fortune, Inc., and Time, where he has been Assistant Managing Editor and was at some point in charge of both business and sports. (Maybe he is as responsible as anyone for running the whole Time, Inc. enterprise into the ground.)
So Bill, what is your take on EVs? According to Saporito, the recent massive write-downs of investments in EVs by Ford ($19.5 billion) and GM ($6 billion) have been caused by “President Trump’s gratuitous war against electric vehicles,” which “is forcing manufacturers to return to an increasingly outdated past.” The CEOs of those companies have been trying to make all the right moves to “futureproof” their enterprises in shifting marketplaces but, says Saporito, “it is pretty difficult to futureproof your company against stupid.”
Saporito continues that EVs are an “obviously beneficial” technology, and that Trump’s war on them is motivated by some combination of vindictiveness, spite, and ignorance of the importance of “climate change.” In short, “stupid”:
Mr. Trump’s efforts to undermine an obviously beneficial technology are something that, as far as I can tell, no large American company previously encountered. . . . One big reason for Mr. Trump’s rejection of E.V.s is simple: President Joe Biden championed them as his administration pushed greener forms of transportation and energy. . . . The vindictive, oil-loving Mr. Trump, who equates green with woke and views climate change as heresy, has worked assiduously to undo it, working to cancel consumer tax incentives and billions in funds for E.V. charging and battery manufacturing projects.
Remarkably, despite the extremely harsh language directed at Trump, Saporito doesn’t mention anything that the supposed “war” consists of beyond the withdrawal of previous subsidies and tax credits. Since when is a business entitled to subsidies and tax credits? Outside social welfare fields like education and health care, nearly all businesses operate without government handouts. Is the government conducting a “war” against people who make computers, or who build houses, by not offering them subsidies and tax credits?
As the final crushing piece of evidence to prove his case that rushing to EVs is “obviously beneficial,” Saporito cites the apparent success of Chinese EV champion BYD. They are leaving us in their dust!
[GM’s foreign competitors] remain fully committed to E.V.s. That’s especially true of China, where BYD has become the world’s largest E.V. maker, overtaking Tesla. BYD started as a battery maker and now exports its low-priced E.V.s to more than 70 countries. Eventually, the United States will be one of them. Our ability to compete with BYD and other Chinese competitors is being undermined.
I wonder if Saporito is keeping up with the latest on BYD, let alone the Chinese EV market generally. Here is a piece from the Vision Times from December 16, headline “BYD Faces Mounting Inventory and Surging Debt as Quality Complaints Flood the Internet.” (To be fair, Vision Times is uniformly highly critical of the Chinese government and its policies.). Excerpt:
In short, BYD’s net profit fell by nearly one-third in the first three quarters of 2025, while its debt burden surged several-fold. Although BYD still ranked first in China’s new-energy vehicle market with retail sales of 307,000 units in November 2025, year-on-year sales dropped sharply by 26.5 percent.
It seems that China is also in the process of withdrawing subsidies and tax credits for purchases of EVs:
With government trade-in subsidies being reduced or suspended and the halving of new-energy vehicle purchase tax incentives set for next year, consumer willingness to buy cars has weakened or been postponed.
Does that mean that China is also conducting a “war” on EVs?
The Vision Times piece concludes by quoting a blogger calling himself “Cold-Eyed Finance” on the subject of the Chinese EV manufacturing sector:
“China’s electric vehicle industry has no easy way out. Overcapacity is the core problem. Manufacturers are locked in vicious internal competition, slashing prices and costs. The result is mounting losses while production continues. After this phase, it will be a test of endurance—and many won’t last. A wave of bankruptcies in China’s EV sector is likely to accelerate.”
I would suggest to Mr. Saporito that it might take a bit more analysis to figure out what the “stupid” policies are here.
Fading demand for EV’s
Although worldwide fading demand for EV’s has resulted in General Motors, Ford, and MBZ writing off billions and reducing production, contrary to the fading demand, California Governor Gavin Newsom remains oblivious that “Net-zero” ideologies are NOT affordable by the more than 6 billion on this planet living in poverty, is doubling down with $200 million in his 2026 State budget for EV rebates for the 5% of the 8 billion on this planet that live in California.
Scott Bessent’s take down of Gavin at the WEF was priceless! Economic illiteracy dominates left wing reasoning.
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2013968999285973210
“Let me know if you need any further clarification”…classic!
Brought years to my eyes! He wasn’t governor when I left CA, but his predecessor wasn’t any smarter. Nor was he as pretty.
What are Gavin’s preferred pronouns?
Me and Mine
You are correct. Respectfully, however, “illiteracy” and “reasoning” do not belong together in the same sentence (as a matter of fact, neither does “left wing” and “reasoning”).
“the 5% of the 8 billion on this planet that live in California”
8 billion *.05 = 400m
“As of early 2025, California’s population was around 39.5 million”
Off by a factor of 10
Thanks for saving me from having to do that. Given that I live here, that made me look twice ….
Otherwise, a very good comment RS.
California does have around 10% of the US population though.
He may be counting the 360M illegals in the state.
5% of the 8 billion? Try .5% (maybe 40 million) and its worse than that…its the 1% of the .5% that live in California. MOST Californian’s can’t afford an EV even with the subsidies, so Gavin is giving ‘virtue signaling money’ to his rich friends…that’s it!
0.5%
AFordability to the rescue-
Ford F-150 Lightning EV enters run out with $60K slashed from price
Gavin is just trying to keep his seat at the cool kids table.
those who do not know history are bound to repeat it – the battle between EVs & ICE cars was fought in the early part of the 20th century for the same reasons as today ICE cars won easily –
AND THAT happened when people weren’t even ‘addicted’ to the ease of use of their petrol cars yet. It has nothing to do with having better technology today, no amount of technology can fix the inherent physics issues and lack of ease of use of an EV. So sure, the rich can have their EV 2nd vehicle to toodle around the city in, but we aren’t going to pay for their virtue signaling any longer.
Perhaps Mr Saporito could help the.EV industry and pay the EV subsidies out of his own pocket instead of using Other Peoples Money. That or buy all the Chinese Surplus BYD EVs and give them to like minded Americans that can’t afford one.
Unfortunately the best way to get everyone an EV is “or buy all the Chinese Surplus BYD EVs”. The major costs – Capital equipment, labor, land – don’t favor EVs made in USA. I saw a super documentary on Volkswagon’s giant Wolfsburg auto plant:
“Covering 6.5 million square meters (70 million sq ft), it produces key models like the Golf, Tiguan, and Touran. Opened in 1938, it remains a cornerstone of German automotive industry, employing over 60,000 people.”
and thought:
“How can any manufacturing company afford to pay 60k German salaries?!”
Answer:
“Basic Import Duty: 10% of the vehicle’s declared value. Value Added Tax (VAT): 19% calculated on the combined total of the vehicle’s value, shipping costs, and the 10% import duty.”
There was a day when news articles would mention that someone other than DJT had used tariffs to protect businesses. I’m not for them, but USA’s founding fathers were, so maybe they’re worth more thought.
Notice AI chose the phrase “Basic Import Duty” instead of tariff.
“Basic Import Duty, or Basic Customs Duty (BCD), is a fundamental tax imposed by government authorities on goods imported from foreign countries to regulate trade and protect domestic industries.”
And what weight is the adjective “fundamental” supposed to be carrying. Words. I wish more conservatives “weaponized” them in this way.
When solid state batteries achieve economies of scale EV’s will be able to compete with ICE’s. Idiotic government mandated market distortions before technologies are viable have imposed damaging economics on society.
There was a limited number of fools who bought them to save the world. The market dried up once those people had all bought.
https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-identify-the-biggest-problem-with-solid-state-batteries/
Not when, but if solid state batteries achieve economies of scale, aka industrial scale production.
However, that they can compete (EVs) with ICE is a subject of debate.
It is still a energy density (volume and weight) competition.
Support infrastructure (chargers versus gas pumps) is a point of competition.
Time to charge versus time to top off is another point of competition.
Then there is always the temperature effects on electro-chemical energy cells. Solid state batteries do not change this.
While there are some interesting and possibly show stopping problems with solid state batteries.
Some of these issues can affect charge and capacity and recharging.
One thing is clear. They are much safer than the batteries currently in use.
Even if you had a light weight battery that could fit into an average car and could hold a charge equivalent to a standard tank of gas, you still have the problem of getting all that charge into the vehicle in just a couple of minutes, without melting down the charging station.
Solid state batteries will be able to fully recharge in 5 minutes.
How thick the cable ??
And where’s the electricity going to come from??
Dependent on Supply, the size of the battery pack, the size of the charging cable.
How well will they work in sub zero F temperatures going to be seen across much of America and Canada this weekend?
You do realize that your comment doesn’t contradict a single thing that I said.
“Time to charge versus time to top off is another point of competition.”
Solid state will be able to fully charge in 5 minutes and have 500 mile ranges.
At the power station !!
So a small EV – 20kwh (BYD) battery to charge in 5 minutes at 48v from scratch would be about 35 Amps. Most are a 32A max. Of course larger vehicles will require a higher charge rate.
Solid state batteries are still nothing more than vapor ware. And have been for decades.
While there probably are some fools who though buying EVs would save the world, it is also quite likely there are some who bought them for ego (aka virtue signaling).
Right, it’s proof in some circles that you’re enlightened.
How many new battery technologies have we been promised that will finally make EVs competitive with ICE vehicles? Has anybody kept track?
Solid state batteries will begin commercial deployment this year.
That’s what they said last year, and the year before, and the year before that …
Every single day, the Electric Viking on his YouTube channel, tells of a new one.
I saw one on YouTube that is supposedly “already in production.” Yet, it doesn’t seem to have appeared in a single EV yet.
🤔
Electrochemical couples all are pairs of elements in the periodic table. Thus, solid-state batteries can only achieve the same (low) potential energy density as other batteries. Solid state batteries MAY offer better discharge cycles, but are limited in charge/discharge rates.
Fuel cells readily surpass batteries. The Toyota Marai has a 400+ mile range with pressurized H2 tanks massing ~100Kg with ~5 kg of H2, double the range provided by the 1000kg Tesla battery.
The H2 fuel cell used in the Type 212 submarine is fed by a Fe-Ti ‘sponge’ containing about 5 times the energy of an equivalent mass battery; is cheaper, immune to fire/explosion, etc.,etc.
If only we had a cheap H2 energy carrier source! Net Zero 2050 is very high on H2, specifying 500 MT by 2045, ten times too small even today. The BIG H2 problem is that it is extremely expensive. The 2025 1$/Kg price from intermittent renewables predicted by the IEA is actually $7/kg and is strictly dependent on the exorbitant price of renewable source electricity.
The ICE will prove VERY difficult to replace, even WITH huge PEV subsidies.
In an hour or so, I will get into my beloved 2010 Mazda 6 — a car which was made in the same factory north of Detroit as the Ford Mustang and which refuses to wear out — and will drive to my favorite gourmet burger place for a Friday lunch date with long-time nuclear industry colleagues.
They will also be driving to this lunch date in their own gas-powered vehicles, and will be eating as much beef and as many greasy fries as they can get down the hatch in one sitting. It’ll be a glorious gathering of like minds. Absolutely glorious.
Indeed, I hope the sun is on your side 👍👍😁😁
You will be getting a healthy dose of Vitamin D and per current research improve immunity to covid and influenza and possibly other respiratory ailments.
“Obviously beneficial”? It is more obvious that he is relying on secondary sources, his being an uncurious hack.
That is the sort of statement a hack uses when said benefits cannot actually be cited and defended.
I assume you mean Saporito.
Mr. Saporito certainly knows Stupid. He’s the king of Stupid.
Saporito sounds like a complete moron or a grifter, perhaps both
The writing was on the wall for EVs not last year or this year but the day it was decided they were the future. The insurmountable problems were apparent to anyone with a basic knowledge then and haven’t changed
Supply of lithium, safety, grid instability, unrecyclable battery components, disposal issues, the psychology of charging and range, the list goes on and on
China went down this route because it was an opportunity to gain market share early on for a technology that wasn’t yet really developed. They knew the West was always going to drag it’s feet because car manufacturers were reluctant, knowing it would never work, and governments were not going to put up the cash.
This gave China the edge with its top down approach and willingness to absorb massive losses
Right now, Chinese taxpayers are basically subsidising the cheap cars sold in the west. It’s unsustainable, especially now that the market has completely collapsed, and the Chinese economy is on its knees
They’ve already shifted to hybrid, but here they are miles behind the Japanese, Germans, French and Americans. In my opinion, this whole adventure was a catastrophe for China
EVs have been dropped quietly in the west, along with wind turbines and all the other expensive green crap. The new grift is AI and data centres
“The new grift is AI and data centres”
I believe you will be proven correct.
I work with AI. The first problem with AI is they call it AI. It’s not. The second problem is it’s overhyped, overblown and over-funded. There will be a bubble.
And yet today’s LLMs do provide value. They do some things well. LLMs will continue to improve. They aren’t going away when the investment bubble pops.
Indeed. Just today, I asked a bot the same question twice, a few hours apart. It was rather like Gandalf’s observation: “Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no.”
Ah, a solution looking for a problem…
Maybe, but I think it must be more than that for hundreds of billions of dollars to be invested in it. They must know something they’re just not telling us. Certainly some AI companies will lose out- but others will succeed and embed their product into everything- we will hardly be aware of it.
Miles behind the (South, as if I need to specify) Koreans too.
The force feeding of EVs in America failed because they underestimated the need for range and affordability. City EV ownership when you have charging available overnight at home was an easy sell for the second car, but not the only car. America is spread out and people are use to traveling distances to do things. You can subsidize until the cows come home but charge times and availability lost to gas stations everywhere. Cheap EVs flooding the market from China won’t work in the US environment and I predict they’ll be majorly dropping their prices just to get rid of them. ICE cars won’t be able to compete on price alone as that happens but range anxiety and ease of refilling will win out.
One of the failure points is those families making under 100k/year don’t buy a lot of new cars, they mostly buy used cars. EV’s are not popular in the second hand market for a very good reason, battery life. Without a robust resale value those who can afford new EV’s hesitate to buy them for the simple reason they can’t resell them or get a good trade in value at their local dealership.
They also swung and missed on the automobile being a basic freedom for Americans and mandates against that freedom are not enthusiastically embraced by the multitudes.
You’ll love mandatory government controlled kill switches.
I love my 04 Toyota Tacoma. I actually have to roll the windows up and down with- get this- a hand crank!
bingo!
Well EVs will be soon history in France. On January 20 their parliament decided to eliminate the much hated low emission zones. One EU country down, the rest to follow. It took the french just 10 years to wisen up so patience. Regardless, leftist ecotards: your days are numbered.
Why do you hate people that live in cities?
Why do you hate people that live outside the cities? Grow your own food within the city or get lost, you ignorant fool.
As one of many examples where the parasitic likes of you think they can survive by alienating their “surroundings”.
Medivial towns had city walls, we should reintroduce them. Slam the gates shut, nothing gets in nor out and thus we’ll live in outside them peace. You can starve and rot within your walls, we’ll survive just fine without you and your BS “find a problem for a solution” attitude that festers mainly in urban areas.
Parisitic? They prefer Parisian!
This will be good for the city….. allow more people in..
Don’t be such a sook !!
Why do you steal from your neighbors?
They have it, he wants it.
What other excuse have socialists ever needed?
Sophistry.
Why are you so… you?
Not forcing cars that don’t work on city dwellers mean we hate them?
You really do believe that you can have your own facts.
Why do you hate people that want useful transportation and a functional electric grid and affordable heating fuels?
What in varg’s post makes you think he hates people that live in cities?
Story tip: https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/next-10-days-winter-will-worst-40-years-across-us
Stay warm chaps!
Well we got pampered enough the past decades, time to remember that winter = low temperatures × (snow + ice)
Next 10 days 25 F below average here in Kansas ….
more warming PLEASE !
Ditto here on the east coast.
Where’s this global warming when we need it?
CO2 hibernates in the winter especially in Canada where I live.
Would you like some of ours ??
Intense heatwave spreading across Australia, catastrophic fire danger in SA on Saturday
btw.. It is summer down here in Australia…. it does sometimes get rather warm !!
Do EVs start at -25 if not in a garage? How well do heat pumps work at that temperature?
Good comment: “It’s so cold I saw a Somalian with his hands in his own pockets.”
Today stealing that! 😆😅🤣😂
Good thing I don’t have an EV or heat pump! After the heavy snow falls- I’m gonna go out and photograph the 20 acre solar “farm” next to my ‘hood. Some greenies say solar panels can work even with a foot of snow on them. I wonder if solar “farms” typically have their production of energy shown on web sites? Well, if not, I think there is a web site showing energy production across New England and by what sources- I used to look at that. I suspect with the strong winds and deep snow, there ain’t gonna be much green energy production for several days. Good thing we haven’t arrived at Net Zero nirvana. The upside of this big storm- I hope to get my snowshoes out of the closet for the first time in several years.
Since communism.
‘Stupid is as stupid does’…private companies relying on heavy government subsidies is stupid. I always ‘understood’ that petrol vehicles didn’t succeed because of massive government subsidies but asked ChatGPT just in case…and my suspicions were correct. The government didn’t have to entice people to replace their horses with petrol vehicles, there wasn’t a massive government subsidized build out of gas stations.
The ‘closest’ to a subsidy you can get is government’s using tax payer money to pay for road building. Perhaps they didn’t think of ‘gas taxes’ at the time to ensure the ‘users’ paid for the product but I doubt anyone was particularly complaining and it became a general good that EV owners aren’t paying for (except soon in the UK).
Long story short, its STUPID to provide any government subsidy to promote private business concerns or for private business concerns to rely on those for planning their business model.
It is of course not surprising the NYTs would promote this crap through providing space for an ‘opinion’ article. They don’t have to ‘fact check’ or make sure it properly represents reality.
A hundred kilometers on electric power: the Turkish army received the first E-ZPT armored personnel carrier.
150km autonomy on battery, with fuel 800km…well I have my doubts, on the other hand I don’t care what the militar regards suitable for their needs – they’re not mine.
They could not afford the copper for an extension cord, obviously.
So they will need a very big generator when they need to recharge..
I wonder how that would work in a war zone. Prime target !!
Battery and fuel – nothing going to go wrong with that
I’m sitting here in rural NY. Frigid weather is already here, and the winter storm watch was upgraded to a storm warning earlier today for 12-18″ of snow for Sunday and Monday. I think it would have been pretty dumb of me to have taken the federal bait to buy an EV.
My truck is fueled up. The fuel cans are full for the tractor with its snow blade, the snowblower, and the generator if needed.
Thank you for listening.
In the UK EV retailers are angling for yet more taxpayer cash/subsidies, claiming to have to be discounting every EV sale to the equivalent of £11k, and even that isn’t enough to drum up the ‘required’ demand.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0417v3v21ko
I got access to the article, read it and also read the comments, many of which seem to support the notion of government money for EV sales, though it was uncertain whether any of them had bought an EV. They definitely hate Trump, and I guess they also like the idea of mandated EV sales because, you know, internal combustion bad. A few commented about the subsidies or issues about EVs, but they were shouted down with nasty comments, some of which were ad hominem attacks thinly disguised as rational comment. Very few of the vast NYT crowd seemed to regard Trump as anything other than the devil incarnate, but then NYC seemed to have heavily voted Democrat. Some complained about charging infrastructure, all due to Trump apparently.
The last time I was in NYC, driving from NJ, I didn’t see many EVs on the road in the seething flow of cars. I did see some hybrids and charging spots…most were empty, as they tend to be here in Toronto (the City’s parking infrastructure always has a few empty chargers).
But now The Carney has struck a deal to allow under 50K EVs in from the Peoples Republic with low tariff, with China promising to reduce the tariff that they hiked up on certain food stocks, maybe…for a year. The Carney has not as yet changed the EV mandates here, even though sales have slowed appreciably, maybe because of Trump (Tesla bad) or that pesky range issue when it is cold (as it is now). Irrespective, they paused the mandate back in September in order to review it (60 days)…still haven’t heard back. Maybe the deal with China is to bolster the mandated numbers, as EV and ‘zero emission’ vehicle manufacturing remains sparse here in the Great White North.
Thick copper wires at charging stations in NYC… Good luck with that !! 🙂
EV’s in really cold weather… Good luck with that. !!
“Very few of the vast NYT crowd seemed to regard Trump as anything other than the devil incarnate”
And, upstate NY, in Albany, is the extreme left NPR. When driving around, I check it out as it can be heard for hundreds of miles and I get it in central MA – and 100% of the time I turn it on, the first word I usually hear is Trump- and how he and his administration are exactly as you say. All day- every day. And the rare moments its not about Trump, its about racism, gender issues, and of course the climate emergency.
And the only war going on is the one that the Climate Industrial Complex started (which they are losing) so his use of the “war” word is classic projection on his part.
Only the deluded who believe in the imaginary “climate crisis” or those who are dumb as a rock (but then I repeat myself) could believe that people would trade cars that take them long distances and can be refilled in 5 minutes for vehicles that don’t go very far (in the real world) and leave you stranded for 45 minutes to “refuel.”
Not to mention that nasty habit of lighting themselves up into a practically impossible-to-put-out fire.
There is another economic component to the BYD sales increase that is troubling – and that is on beyond subsidies. In Europe when BYD sells an EV they get a carbon credit. Then, they turn around and sell those to the Euro car manufacturers so they can meet their carbon reduction goals. BYD uses the sales proceeds to offset their low and lower prices. Effectively undercutting the market and killing the European auto market. California carbon credits were a significant amount of Tesla’s top line revenue using this same approach. Sell an EV, collect a carbon credit, sell them to your competitor and use the funds to undercut them. That is a definition of stupid.
Very nice Francis. Like you I have no problem with EVs. If people want to buy a piece of crap that is their business. I do however despise government sticking it’s stinking nose into the matter. Creating mandates, telling lies, wasting my money on this crap. Government needs to get out of the transportation business, they know nothing.
Was the demand for EVs in North America ever that great in the first place even after generous incentives were provided? Closer examination of the shortcomings and limitations of these machines even before the subsidies were introduced made many consumers think twice about purchasing them. And when when studies in California showed that EVs were more likely to be purchased and used for short range urban transport even when they were faced with mild climate conditions, consumers weren’t so quick to abandon their ICEVs which could be much better depended upon for longer trips. So now that EVs have to stand on their own two feet; i.e., without subsidies, consumers and manufacturers have realized that the price and technology haven’t come far enough to make them such a good investment.
The classic case was the virtue signallers driving their EVs to the Sierra for a weekend of skiing, only to find the couldn’t make it there without stopping to recharge first.
At a charging station powered by a diesel generator.
😄😆😅🤣😂
All these billion-dollar companies that supposedly know the end of the world is nigh if they don’t go green, and yet somehow not a one is willing to invest in it on their own dime.
Gee, I wonder what could explain that.
The subsidies are notably paid to wealthier citizens.
To those with PEVs: Be very careful over the coming week while temperatures plunges into negative levels across much of the country. That is a dangerous time for battery stability and potential fires.
It looks like future batteries will be Sodium-Ion. Sodium is over 1,000 times more abundant in the earth’s crust than lithium, with extraction costs at merely 1/20 of lithium.
I’m always impressed with technological progress. Here’s the latest from the world’s battery manufacturing giant, the Chinese company CATL.
CATL’s Naxtra is a next-generation sodium-ion battery brand launched in April 2025, designed for affordable EVs and energy storage, with mass production starting by the end of 2025.
It offers a competitive energy density of 175 Wh/kg, exceptional cold-weather performance, maintaining 90% capacity at -40 degrees C, and over 10,000 charge cycles, providing a safer, cheaper alternative to lithium-ion, and a lifespan of 5-6 million km.
They also support fast charging (10-80% in under 10 minutes) and are expected to be roughly 50% cheaper than current LFP batteries.
As of January 2026, CATL’s Naxtra sodium-ion batteries are in the early stages of commercialization, with large-scale deployment for vehicles scheduled to begin in Q2 2026.
How exciting!
What’s the power density? If it’s substantially lower than Li-Ion, then it won’t work for cars. (Not that Li-Ion actually works for cars either.)
As I mentioned in my post: “It offers a competitive energy density of 175 Wh/kg”.
Whilst the latest lithium-ion batteries generally feature a better energy density of 200–300 Wh/kg, they have major safety issues of spontaneous combustion and low performance in extreme cold and heat.
As a result, Lithium-Iron-Phosphate batteries have recently become more popular as a result of their better safety, but these LiFePO4 batteries still operate poorly in extreme temperatures and have a lower density of 150-170 Wh/kg.
The latest Sodium-ion batteries developed by CATL are not only much safer, they also work well in extreme temperatures of both cold and hot, maintaining high capacity up to 90% at -40degrees C in extreme cold, and offering better thermal stability in intense heat, up to 60-80 degrees C.
Sodium is also much cheaper and more abundant than Lithium, so this appears to be a major development in battery technology, both for storage and transport.